No, not the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Hardy Boys. To be clear, this collection of books is not my own. Although I believe we once did have quite a few of them, in addition to many of the Nancy Drew and Bobsey Twins series. I always thought the latter were more insipid and less imaginative than the rest of those adolescent detectives, but they were younger and less experienced, so I’ll let them ride for now. Spotted on a recent trip to Maine, at this wonderful antique store.

Lots of changes afoot here, but will save that for another post.
Happy Summer!

HUH? Why is the kindle app telling me how much time I need to finish my book? That is not how I want to think about reading. I suppose it’s a small, but telling, indication of how our culture has changed. It makes me a little sad, but it’s also the price one pays for reading a book on a digital device. Sort of a Faustian bargain.

I have a librarian friend, whom I will not name. He/she occasionally gives me books that he/she finds in the trash bin or at the various book sales that are held to liquidate unwanted reading material. This image is of the inside cover of a small pamphlet which explains, in clear terms, why premarital “relations” are a bad idea. I think this was in the garbage. Why it was taken off the shelves remains a mystery. I would have thought it would be a welcome addition to the Western literary canon.

While the solutions may take on somewhat different forms, the questions of how to make a success of one’s design or invention remain the same. Mr. Murray A. Gleeson published his book of wisdom in 1970.

The recent NYT obituary for Yvonne Brill opened with “She made a mean beef stroganoff.” Are you f*#!?g kidding? No offense to any woman who chooses to stay at home with her children. Keep in mind that Mrs. Brill (as she liked to be called) did in fact take leave of her full-time work for eight years in order to raise three kids. But this woman was a  rocket scientist!! Who cares what she cooked for dinner. I want to know about her invention of a propulsion system (still in use today!) that allows satellites to remain in orbit.
Under pressure from the public, and maybe a little in-house ire, the Times did end up revising the obit. What you see here are the edits from when the piece was first published on Saturday at 2:21 p.m to the revision later that night at 9:56 p.m. Courtesy of NewsDiffs.

And really, if you are going to reference her stroganoff, at least include the recipe.